I had a terrible toothache yesterday. I tried to get in to see the dentist, but the blizzard closed her down too. So I used a lot of “Orajel” and took some pain-killer pills left over from when Alex had his wisdom teeth pulled. This sort of worked, but only if I hung my head over the back of my chair and left my mouth open. I have no idea why that worked, but it relieved the acute pain.
Today the pain is gone – mostly. I couldn’t explain why it started and I cannot explain why it went away. Misery is a mystery to me. I still plan to go to the dentist on Monday to preempt any recurrence. My teeth are rotten. I treated them poorly when I was young and now they are getting their revenge. It is not hereditary. The kids have excellent teeth and have never had even one cavity among them. Modern toothpaste and fluoride in the water has banished cavities.
Life does get better, but you just don’t think about it. There was a TV commercial when I a kid. It featured a kid who came back from the dentist bragging, “Look mom, no cavities.” That kind of claim sold toothpaste in those days because not having cavities was so rare. Today it is different. You don’t think about cavities when you don’t have any. It becomes normal.
You don’t think of too much else when you have a bad toothache, but you forget about it as soon as it goes away. It is a blessing to forget pain but also an invitation to complacency. I was tempted to just let it go after the pain dissipated and that seems to be the pattern for life in general. We ignore what is not bothering us.
The picture above is the truck among the snow banks, snowing how high the snow has gotten.